


Watch as it arcs towards the sun

by chaotic_dumbass



Category: Campaign (Podcast), Illimat (Board Game)
Genre: Burza Nyth Arc, Fluff, Gen, Sibling dynamic, heights, jonnit and dref are adhd/autistic solidarity, missed opportunities prompt? sounds like dref time!, oh the found family of it all, they are KIDS and they deserve to go on amusement park rides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29964345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaotic_dumbass/pseuds/chaotic_dumbass
Summary: Day 3: Burza nyth / family / missed opportunitiesBurza Nyth is a very distracting city, especially with Aur Piora approaching. Jonnit is going to make sure he doesn't miss his opportunity to try out the rides.
Relationships: Jonnit Kessler & Dref Wormwood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Jonnit Week 2021





	Watch as it arcs towards the sun

**Author's Note:**

> jonnit week time!  
> I was listening to the patreon Burza Nyth world building episode and they were talking about how the city has an amusement park on a pier with a bunch of featherweave rides. I just think that Jonnit is 15 and deserves an amusement park episode and I'm basically incapable of writing a skyjacks fic for a missed opportunities prompt without including Dref.
> 
> Title is from Don't Carry it All by The Decemberists

Jonnit has never seen so many people in one place. Granted, Jonnit hasn’t been many places outside of Akaron, but Burza Nyth is enormous. The winding streets are absolutely packed, a hot, loud pushing mass of humanity that almost seems to become one creature, one beast as it moves. There is definitely something Jonnit likes about it, being lost in the crowd. Like he’s a part of something bigger than himself. It’s a similar feeling to singing a song with the whole crew of the Uhuru, everyone’s voices blending and indistinguishable. The sense of belonging. 

Jonnit feels his shoulder bumped and turns to see Dref next to him. His eyes dart rapidly and Jonnit can hear his quickened, panicked breathing. He’s moving like he’s in the ocean, bobbing slightly, pushed by the ebb and flow. The expression on his face is pretty much appropriate for that scenario: utter terror. Jonnit has to get him out of here. 

“I’m not tall enough to see anything here, I gotta move off to the side,” Jonnit says, raising his voice to be heard above the din. “Dref’s coming with me, we’re the same height.” 

He takes the necromancer by the upper arm and pulls him onto a curb off of the street and moves them both up a bit to higher ground. Travis and Gable follow. 

“We are n-not the same height,” Jonnit hears Dref murmur beside him. “I am two in-inch...I-I am two and a half inches taller than you.” 

Jonnit turns and grins two and a half inches up at him. The color is returning to Dref’s face. Now he’s just his normal stark pale rather than the deathlike pallor he had been sporting a moment ago. One of his thumbs is circling the other, pinching and pulling at the pad, and his breathing seems much more controlled. _Saved it_ Jonnit thinks, and he stands on the tips of his toes to look out over the crowd. 

He really can see better from here, but not by much. It’s mostly just the tops of people’s heads and the vertigo-inducing downward slope of the winding streets. They’re probably right at the intersection of two areas of the city because the garlands of flowers change from purple to orange somewhat suddenly, and Jonnit doesn’t know their names, but he’s pretty sure they’re different kinds. 

“Where’s your contact?” Gable’s voice asks from behind him, and Jonnit jolts back to hear the start of a flippant response from Travis. He had honestly forgotten why they were there, but in his defense Burza Nyth is very distracting. It’s very loud and very bright and there are a lot of great food smells. He turns his head to keep looking, and there’s a glint he can see out of the corner of his eye. He follows it, and at first he thinks he’s looking at a very small ship that’s just hovering above the city, because it’s definitely featherweave that’s flapping gently in the wind. Then he sees the woven seat connected to the large length of weave and the other similar devices peppered throughout slightly lower altitudes and realizes it’s a _ride_. 

“Hey guys,” he begins, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible. “I’m gonna go hop on that thing. I’ll be able to see the whole city from there, I can definitely look for Travis’s contact while you guys ask around down here.” 

Gable’s eyes follow Jonnit’s hand and their brow furrows. 

“Do you even know what you’re looking for?” Travis asks, sounding only half present. 

“Yes!” Jonnit replies, defensive. “A library or a bookstore or something.” 

“The crowd is so big.” Gable’s voice is laced with concern. “You’ll get lost.” 

Jonnit begs with his eyes and watches as he wears down Gable’s resistance. He pinpoints the exact moment that they relent. 

“Fine,” they sigh, “but at least take Dref with you. Travis and I can ask around down here.” 

“Great, thanks Gable, byeeee,” Jonnit says, rushing it out before Gable can change their mind. He grabs Dref’s arm again and pulls him in the direction of the featherweave balloons. “C’mon, there’s gonna be a line!” 

“A-alright, Jonnit,” Dref huffs, sounding slightly overwhelmed. “Y-you can slow down, I-I-I’m already coming with you.” 

Jonnit doesn’t slow his pace but he does loosen his grip on Dref as he races towards the wooden pier near the city walls. Jonnit groans as he spots the line stretching back into the streets, but Dref places a hand on his shoulder and gestures to a much shorter queue on the left side of the pier. 

“W-we ah, we are a group of two so th-that line is for us,” Dref tells him, and Jonnit feels his spirits lighten immediately. 

“Great! Have you been here before?” 

Dref’s voice is distant when he replies, “Y-you, ahm, you already asked me that.” 

“Oh.” Jonnit must have forgotten immediately after asking. He thought he’d been getting better about that and now he’s definitely too embarrassed to try and confirm the answer. He refocuses his attention on the sky, where he can just see four figures strapped into seats below one of the larger canopies of featherweave. His excitement is burrowing under his skin, a faint electrical hum all throughout his body. He shakes out both of his hands as fast as he possibly can and rocks back and forth slightly to alleviate some of it. 

There’s a soft exhale beside him, and he turns to see Dref watching him fondly. There’s a look in the medic’s eyes that tugs at Jonnit with its familiarity but he can’t quite place it. Jonnit feels his face heat up, despite the fact that he’s seen Dref pull a nearly identical motion countless times, and shoves the older boy in the shoulder. He doesn’t expect the act to send Dref stumbling backwards into the patrons behind them, upsetting the line and generally causing a bit of a commotion. It makes the tips of Dref’s ears go red as he eeks out apologies in a stutter that’s even more prominent than usual, but it also does get them to the front of the line faster because no one else really wants to stand next to them. 

Dref passes over a few bits to the operator and a bored-looking young person with the side of their head shaved close tightens the leather straps that hold them fast to the wicker seats. The small lantern above them is lit, and as the fire heats the featherweave above them, the whole thing begins to float upwards. Jonnit hears Dref’s breath catch as soon as they start moving. The floating is gentle at first, but then the weave catches a strong wind and the balloon is pulled both upwards and backwards rapidly. All of the air rushes out of Jonnit’s lungs and his eyes sting in the wind. There’s a definite _stutter_ stop to his heartbeat and adrenaline courses through his veins. Dref makes a high squeaking noise of terror and Jonnit takes his hand and squeezes it tight. 

The winds level out after a moment and the weave above them seems to settle into a pattern of light swaying. The pure, unfiltered joy of being so high up threatens to rip the heart out of Jonnit’s chest. He whoops gleefully and swings his feet back and forth, his legs whipping through open air beneath them. 

“P-p-please. Please do not, d-don’t _do_ that, Jonnit,” Dref implores, the hand not being held by Jonnit gripping the arm of the wicker seat so hard that his knuckles are white. Jonnit pauses, takes stock, and realizes that yeah, kicking his feet is totally causing the basket thing that they’re sitting in to sway harder. Whoops. 

“Sorry! Sorry, man. Wow, we really can see the whole city from up here!” 

Seeing Burza Nyth spread out underneath him is seriously incredible. His eyeline can follow the path of the large stone walls keeping the ocean at bay. He can even see specks that are people walking on the walls, waiting to get on the lift to take them down to the city, the same lift they met that scary guy who Travis lost a card game to and then immediately tried to rob. He wonders if Travis is behaving for Gable, then wonders if he can see Gable’s imposing figure from here, then flushes because no, of course he can’t, that’s stupid. But he can see the downward slope of the city and the sails of the ships docked there and, if he screws up his face against the wind, a few gryphons circling above the walls. 

“Well, I-I’m glad at least yuh-you’re enjoying it,” Dref says, and though his tone is sarcastic, Jonnit can see his shoulders have relaxed and the faintest trace of a smile plays on his lips. 

“Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad,” Jonnit cajoles, trying to coax Dref’s lips further up into one of those rare genuine smiles that Jonnit makes his mission to pull out of him. “ _Thank_ you for coming with me. Really. It’s way better ‘cause you came.” 

There is a sudden shift, a strong and forceful wind blows through, rocking their basket and pushing back Jonnit’s headband so that he has to hold it onto his head to keep it from falling into the ocean below. Entirely on instinct, Jonnit’s third eye flares open on his head. The wind stings it even sharper than his normal ones and Jonnit’s whole body tenses as he’s flooded with information. The pinpricks of light, the threads of the universe are so numerous, filling the city and the wall and the ships and spreading out in every direction. It’s all just _there_ , suddenly and so fast and he can’t process or focus on any one part of it. It’s like how his brain normally is multiplied a million times over, and it’s a long moment before his eye flutters shut and he comes back to himself. 

“..onnit? Are yuh-you, are you alright?” Dref is asking, and ow, there’s a sharp stab of pain behind his temples as he adjusts. 

“...I think so. Yeah, it just, like... _opened_ for no reason and it took me by surprise.” 

Concern is written all over Dref’s face. “H-has, has that been...hmm happening...frequently?” 

Jonnit narrows his eyes in the doctor’s direction. “No, not really. Should it not do that? Why’d it do that right now?” 

For what feels like an eternity, there is no noise but the wind whistling past. Jonnit feels anxiety begin to pool into his gut and calcify, harden there. 

“Is this...do I need to be worried?” 

Dref sighs, looking for all the world like he’s about to have a long dreaded conversation. 

“I am n-not certain that I am...ahm, a qualified judge of th-the aprah, ahm, appropriate amount of worry...f-for any situation,” he starts, and looks gratified when Jonnit chuckles lightly. “You...you are extraordinary, Jonnit. And, l-like with Orimar, there are some people who would be very, hmm, upset at that. There are people and there are or-organizations that would hurt you, because you are extraordinary.” 

Jonnit hazards his best guess. “The Church of the Slain God?” 

Dref nods slowly, saying, “..Y-yes, among other parties. And, and, and you are not the first to be like this, Jonnit. The Church c-calls them Seers. I’m sure the Church has much more information, but from the ahm, the materials that I have been able to e-examine, the records that I’ve read...these Seers do not tend to live very long. They tend to be killed quite prematurely...and i-it is usually a bit...gruesome.” 

Anything that Dref Wormwood considers gruesome is something that Jonnit does not ever want to experience. He’s not sure what his expression is like, but whatever it is makes Dref’s shoulders square back and his jaw tighten. Almost decisive. 

“T-that will not happen,” he says, his voice steadier than Jonnit has ever heard it. “I will not let a-anything happen to you, Jonnit. I will keep you safe.” 

It dawns on Jonnit suddenly, what he recognized in the way Dref had looked at him in line. It was the same way he used to catch Zana looking at him sometimes, when he climbed too high in a tree or overextended himself or generally did something ill-advised that made Zana call him stupid and ended up causing him bodily harm. He hadn’t been able to place it then, just that it felt familiar, but now he knows. The protectiveness of an older sibling. 

A wave of conflicted affection moves to coat Jonnit’s chest. On the one hand, he is really glad to know that Dref cares about him. Obviously he knew that, but it’s nice to _know_. On the other hand, he’s fifteen! He’s not a child, and Dref is only four years older than him, and he’s super powerful, or at least he’s going to be one day, so he doesn’t need Dref to protect him. But, then again, the Church of the Slain God is like, really creepy. And something about the way that Dref talks about the Seers and the ends that befell them...it just gets to him, in a way that little else they’ve encountered so far has. Makes his blood run cold. It scares him, and he’s brave enough to admit that to himself. 

In the end, all Jonnit says is, “Okay” and he doesn’t let go of Dref’s hand until they’re back on the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> roast me if you see a typo!  
> twitter is @zivgoel


End file.
